January 6, 2010 - General Lew Allen Jr., the 10th chief of staff of the
Air Force, passed away January 4, 2010, in Potomac
Falls, Va. Funeral
arrangements have not yet been made but burial will be in ArlingtonCemetery.
General Allen, a West Point graduate,
entered the Air Force in 1946 and completed multi-engine flight training
in November 1946. He flew bombers at Carswell Air Force Base,
Texas, until he entered the master's program at the University of Illinois
in 1950.

In 1952 he received a Master of Science degree in nuclear physics and
went on to earn a doctorate in physics in 1954. He spent the next 19
years working in the scientific community, involved with some of the
nation's most sensitive space projects. For that work he was inducted
into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame Aug. 8, 2007,
at Peterson AFB, Colo.

On his way to becoming the chief of staff of the Air Force, General
Allen held a number of intelligence positions including director of the
National Security Agency, chief of the Central Security Service and
commander of Air Force Systems Command. He was appointed chief of staff
in July 1978.

During his tenure, he oversaw the establishment of Air Force Space
Command. Following his retirement in July 1982, he became director of
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory National Aeronautics and Space
Administration center in Pasadena, Calif.,
and remained in that position until 1990.

An award has been established in his honor that is presented annually to
a base-level officer and senior NCO in aircraft, munitions or missile
maintenance directly involved in aircraft sortie generation. According
to officials, the award was established as a tribute to General Allen's
legacy of attention to detail and technical expertise, attributes
reflected in the nominees honored with the award bearing his name.

After completing multiengine flight training in November 1946, General
Allen was assigned to Strategic Air Command's 7th Bombardment Group at
Carswell Air Force Base, Texas,
where he flew B-29 Superfortresses and Convair B-36s, and also served in
various positions related to nuclear weaponry. He attended the Air
Tactical Course at Tyndall Air Force Base,
Florida, and returned to Carswell Air Force Base
as an instructor and assistant special weapons officer for the 7th
Bombardment Wing.

In September 1950, he entered the University of Illinois
for graduate training in nuclear physics and received a master of
science degree in 1952. He earned his doctorate degree in physics in
1954 after completing an experimental thesis on high energy photonuclear
reactions. General Allen then was assigned to the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission's Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in
New Mexico as a physicist in the Test Division,
where he became friends with bomb designer Ted Taylor. He conducted
experiments in several of the nuclear test series. These experiments
related to the physics of thermonuclear weapons design and to the
effects of high altitude nuclear explosions for ballistic missile
defense.

From June 1957 to December 1961, General Allen was assigned to Kirtland
Air Force Base, New Mexico,
as science adviser to the Physics Division of the Air Force Special
Weapons Center. He specialized in the military effects of high altitude
nuclear explosions and participated in several weapon test series. He
was scientific director of a major experiment that utilized a large
series of high altitude rockets to measure the characteristics of
electrons trapped in the geomagnetic field after an exoatmospheric
nuclear burst.

He was assigned in December 1961, to the Office of the Secretary of
Defense, Space Technology Office in the Directorate of Research and
Engineering, Washington,
D.C. From June 1965 to February
1973, he was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force,
initially in Los Angeles
as deputy director for advanced plans in the Directorate of Special
Projects. He moved to The Pentagon in June 1968 as deputy director of
space systems and in June 1969 became director. He returned to Los Angeles in September 1970 as assistant to
the director of special projects and in April 1971 became director of
special projects, with additional duty as deputy commander for satellite
programs, Space and Missile Systems Organization.

After serving briefly as chief of staff for Air Force Systems Command at
Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland,
General Allen was appointed in March 1973 as deputy to the Director of
Central Intelligence for the Intelligence Community in Washington, D.C.
In August 1973, he became director, National Security Agency and chief,
Central Security Service at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. Allen's tenure as NSA director was
noteworthy in that he became the first NSA director to ever testify
publicly before Congress. In August 1977, he was named commander of Air
Force Systems Command.

Allen served as the vice chief of staff, U.S. Air Force from April 1978
until he became Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in July
1978. His nomination was unusual in that he had never served an overseas
or a combat assignment, and most of his positions were in highly
specialized activities rather than in the usual command structure of the
Air Force.

Following retirement from the Air Force in 1982, he became the Director
of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during the Voyager program, serving in
that capacity until 1990. He is a member of the National Academy of
Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations.

From 1993 to 1995, General Allen served as a member of the President's
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) and the Intelligence
Oversight Board. Allen was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Award
of the Association of Graduates, the alumni association of
West Point graduates.

The United States Air Force has created an award in his honor, the
General Lew Allen Jr. Trophy, awarded annually to an Officer and
Senior NCO in the aircraft maintenance or munitions career fields
directly involved with sortie generation.